Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Dahlia variabilis cultivar Bronze Amazon.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dahlia plant, botanically known as Dahlia variabilis, commercially referred to as a pot-type Dahlia, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Bronze Amazon.
The new Dahlia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Venhuizen, The Netherlands. The objective of the breeding program is to create new pot-type Dahlia cultivars with desirable inflorescence form and attractive ray and disc floret coloration.
The new Dahlia originated from a cross-pollination made by the Inventor on Jul. 15, 1998 of a proprietary Dahlia variabilis selection identified as code number 96.2580, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with a proprietary Dahlia variabilis selection identified as code number 98.3930, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Dahlia was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a single flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Venhuizen, The Netherlands, during the spring of 1999.
Asexual reproduction of the new Dahlia by vegetative tip cuttings was first conducted in Mariahout-Laarbeek, The Netherlands during the summer of 1999. Asexual reproduction by cuttings has shown that the unique features of this new Dahlia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The cultivar Bronze Amazon has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and daylength, without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Bronze Amazonxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Bronze Amazonxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct pot-type Dahlia:
1. Upright, compact and rounded plant habit.
2. Freely basal branching habit, full and dense plants.
3. Semi-double type inflorescences.
4. Golden yellow and bright orange bi-colored ray florets with bright yellow-colored disc florets.
Compared to plants of the female parent, plants of the new Dahlia differ primarily in ray floret coloration as ray florets of plants of the female parent are pink in color with darker-pink towards the base. Compared to plants of the male parent plants of the new Dahlia differ primarily in ray floret coloration as ray florets of plants of the male parent are solid yellow in color.
Plants of the new Dahlia can be compared to plants of the Dahlia cultivar Margaret, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,769. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Venhuizen, The Netherlands, plants of the new Dahlia were larger, more freely branching and differed in ray floret coloration.